The Anguilla Hotel and Tourism Association held its Annual General Meeting on Friday, November 14, at Viceroy Resort and Residencies.
President of the Association, Mr Delroy Lake, said the tourism industry had seen many challenges over the past season. One of them was due to last month’s passage of Hurricane Gonzalo, as well as the recent heavy rain which caused flood damage to businesses.
He was pleased with the Association’s growth in membership, among other matters. He reported that the AHTA had successfully recruited eight new members, bringing the total membership to 208. That membership comprises 21 accommodation members, 21 villa members, 108 allied members and 51 other members.
“Our members are the owners of billions of dollars-worth of investment on the island and should be partners in any discussion or decision-making in Anguilla,” Mr Lake stressed. “We continue to lobby for the permanent implementation of the night ferry [between Anguilla and Dutch St Maarten]. It seems that some government agencies see the operation of the night ferry as an expense to Anguilla, rather than an investment that must be made.”
Mr Lake continued: “The AHTA continues to fight and lobby government on marketing, taxes and airlift to Anguilla; and most recently the AHTA has been involved in what has become the heated topic on the island – jet skis.”
He added that there were many challenges ahead for the industry. He believed that by building partnerships between the private and public sectors many of the challenges could be overcome.
The feature speaker was Mr Emil Lee of St Maarten, President of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association. He joined in expressing the need for private and public partnerships noting that, while both might have the same goals, they could achieve a measure of success in different ways.
Mr Lee spoke about the need to create year-round business. He said while some hotels closed during the slow period, the region needed to look at Aruba which constantly had high occupancy levels. He thought this was an example of constant tourism numbers for the rest of the Caribbean.
During the Annual General Meeting, Mrs Vida Lloyd Richardson of DaVida Restaurant was elected to serve on the Board of Directors for three years. Mr Delroy Lake, the President of the AHTA congratulated and welcomed her to the Board.
